Ischemia activates Bax, a proapoptotic BCL2 protein, as well as the prosurvival β-
catenin/Wnt signaling pathway. To test the hypothesis that β-catenin/Wnt signaling regulates
Bax-mediated apoptosis after induction of metabolic stress, which occurs during renal
ischemia, we infected immortalized and primary proximal tubular epithelial cells with
adenovirus to express either constitutively active or dominant negative β-catenin constructs.
Constitutively active β-catenin significantly decreased apoptosis and improved cell survival …